Guy de Maupassant

GUY DE MAUPASSANT (1850–1893) was a master of the short story form. Born into an affluent family in the north of France, he led a colourful life prior to be published, during which he was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert, saved Algernon Charles Swinburne from drowning and and enlisted in the Franco-Prussian War.

In 1880 he published what is considered his first masterpiece, Boule de Suif, which met with instant and tremendous success. Flaubert described the work as 'a masterpiece that will endure.' Having published over 300 short stories, six novels, three travelogues and a collection of verse, Maupassant attempted suicide and spent the rest of his life in an asylum in Paris.